How to be crystal clear on your brand

Brand marketing is where you’re known for something, where you have the awareness and the interest, where you’re in the mind of your ideal client or consumer. People think about you and know you, before your competitors. So, if you’re to think of a fizzy drink, whichever fizzy drink you think of first, that brand has awareness in your mind. It might be Coca-Cola. Or, it might be sometimes people say, well, actually, Rob, it’s Sprite who’s owned by Coca-Cola.

So, I’m not saying which one you should think of, or what’s right. If you think, Lilt, I say fine. It’s probably owned by Coca-Cola. Costa Coffee now owned by Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola owns everyone, even my son. So, brand is your awareness in the marketplace. And then also, what come to mind. How you’re known? How people converse about you? Your position. So, for example, Aston Martin has a position in the car branding space. Kia has a position in the car branding space. It’s not like, either right or wrong, but they’re clear on their position. So, I’m very clear, if I’m creating brand or direct response. So, social media, you can build your awareness, your influence.

Now, your brand, is, I’m going to talk about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, about 8 things that you can do, to be really crystal clear on your brands. So, then when you create brochures, websites, new social media platforms, sales pages, articles, blogposts, podcasts, et cetera, live videos the clarity and the consistency of who and what you’re putting out to the world will remain clear to you. In fact, do you know what? I’ll just do that now.

So, a brand isn’t just a logo, or a visual, or colour scheme, or typeface, which a lot of people get really technical and anal over. In fact, I did a previous podcast episode called, Logo Comes Last. Because when most people think about creating a brand, what do they do? well, I need a business card, a logo, a letterhead and a comp slip. Well, 1985 might think that’s the way you brand. But this is 2018 and beyond. So, your brand is the message how you’re known. The piece of real estate that you own in the mind, or in the niche, or in the market, or in the world. So, the things that you’re going to need to think about, and this isn’t just one of these passive exercises. This is one of these active exercises. You’re going to actually write these down, for those of you live in the course. For those of you listening to the podcast, you still want to write these down.

So, I’m going to quickly talk through what they are, and then talk through he exercises you need to do. So, I believe in building your brand or brand-led marketing, the thing that’s unique, and different about you, is one of the most important. Because in your niche, there’s probably plenty. Plenty of competitors. Plenty of podcasters. Plenty of coaches, consultants, trainers, you name it. Plenty of entrepreneurs. Plenty of influencers. And a lot of people get put off by that, by the way. I’d say don’t get put off by that. Just show yourself in a unique way. Now, there’s always room at the top. So, don’t worry for the moment about your competition, or who’s bigger, or better, or have been doing it a bit longer, or that there are millions of what you do. Don’t worry about that for now. There’s always room at the top for the best. And there’s always room for the clear and the specific.

Rob Moore: I didn’t say anything. All right, what’s unique about you? You’re going to do be doing that exercise in a minute. Now, a lot of people think, ah, well, there’s nothing unique about me. There is, because you’re unique. It’s not just because your mom told you. You are! (I’ve just pressed the button here. It’s still recoding)

All right, next, what do you stand for? And what do you stand against? What do you believe in? you know like, vegans stand against cruelty to animals. They stand for sustainability, whether they’re right or wrong, or the ethical or moral judgment is irrelevant. They stand for something. And I admire that. I admire someone who stands for something, even if the world doesn’t admire them.

Donald Trump, I admire for what he stands for in that he’s clear and confident and somewhat aggressive about what he stands for. Love him or hate him, look what he did. Well, that depends when you’re listening to this podcast, if we’re in World War 3.

All right, great. Okay, next then, what do people consistently say about you that’s marketable or memorable. Because a lot of people think that the brand of them is who they are, or what they want to share, or what they believe in. But that’s half of the equation. The other half, is, how does the world know you? What does the world perceive that you give value to? You know, a great product is just not a product you want to create. There’s plenty of great product producers and inventors who’ve created amazing things that people don’t want.

Podcasting is a great example. 10 years ago, there were great podcasters out there. But podcasting was too early. It was just too early. Now, it’s having a second revival, a big revival. So, the key to what do people consistently say about you that’s marketable or memorable, is, your customers, followers, fans, they will give feedback to you as to what they like about you, what they need from you, what they buy from you. And you should listen to them. Because if you don’t, you’re selling stuff that your people don’t want. And that is definitely one of the definitions of insanity, they say, doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. Well, pumping up products and services and contents that people don’t want will drive you insane. You’ll feel like you’re working really hard, and life is unfair, and that you should be making more money, and getting more reach and exposure.

But the reality is, what if you’ve got is not what they want, it ain’t going to work. So, there’s this paradox. There’s this ying yang between what you’re inspired to give and what the world wants to receive. If that’s in fine balance, maybe, 50-50, you’re going to make a lot of money, and you’re going to scale.

People often ask me, Rob, how do you get all these ideas for all the books? It’s simple. I engage in the communities, and work out what the common challenges, and problems, and demands, and questions are, and then I write a book on it. then some people go, ah, well, that’s a bit of a cheat. Well, I only ever write a book on what I feel I know very well. And if I don’t, yeah, I’ll wait. There are plenty of great authors who just do 2 years research studies on things they’re not experts in. they just research it well.

So, I must have what? 25-30 ideas for books now. I’ve written 14, and every single one of them has been me seeing enough demand in the communities that I’m in so that before I even write one word in the Word Document, I know that book is going to sell. I just know it. because thousands of people are talking about it, or struggling with it, or messaging me about it. I even park the book I want to write next in favour of one that people want the most as long as like, I said I feel credible about it.

So, there’s a lot of books out there at the moment that I could write. You know how every book seems to have a swear word in it. Well, that fad will go. I mean on the title, F**k It. The sort of art I’ve not given a f**k. actually, that’s quite a funny book. I don’t know if you’ve listened to that. No f**ks given at the end of every sentence. I just quite like that. you only have a certain amount of f**ks to give. Ooh, wait a minute. This is going on the podcast. Sorry, kids.

All right. So, you ask people how they know you, how they perceive you. You ask for feedback. This is something that people don’t often do. but it’s really powerful. So, if you can get your ego out of the way, this will really change how you build your brand. Listen to your critics. Because the thing is, your critics are also giving you feedback as to how you’re being perceived in the marketplace. If a critic said to me, Rob Moore shouts and he’s ranty, that’s actually good feedback. It means I’m getting under people’s skin. It means I’m living up to the brand of being disruptive. So, I’m not going to apologise for that.

All right, next then on building your brand, your sustainable durable enduring brand. What words or values could you own? Just Do It. If You Don’t Risk Anything, You Risk Everything. Are there words, phrases and values that you could own? What to use synonymous with and for? Now, that’s probably a merging of the values that you hold to be true in your life. It might be freedom. It might be profit. It might be variety. It might be consistency. You know your value don’t have to be these bigger ethereal ones that all the big multibillion company seemed to have. There’s nothing wrong with consistency or fairness. Now, sometimes, you can actually own a word or a phrase like, Just Do It. But other times, you don’t necessarily own the word, but people just know in your mind that’s what they get from you. And that has power. That has mind space. Because in branding, the enemy to all branding is inconsistency.

Why do companies pay tens or hundreds of millions of pounds to branding gurus for them to change the colour by about 0.000001 percent gradient, not even change the typeface, and just ever so slightly freshen up the brand. Because, if Nike went from a tick to a cross and Just Do It to Nah, F**k It, then there’s a problem there. They could pay some creative agency a load of money for that. They could ruin all the goodwill they’ve built over. I don’t know, how long it is? Is it 40-50 years with Nike? I don’t know. So, certain phrases like, disruptive, or fair, or consistent, or creative, or visionary, or whatever. If you can somehow, take ownership of those, and if you can stay consistent to those as you move forward and develop your brand, and don’t get distracted, and don’t redesign your website every 6 to 12 months, and change your colour scheme, and go into a new business or stream, or change the name of your podcast, or whatever else.

You know what? Susan Boyle was singing for decades, before her big moment on… what show was she on?

Audience: Britain’s Got Talent.

Rob Moore: Britain’s Got Talent, that’s the one. Sometimes, you have to say and do things tens of thousands of times, before it plants in people’s minds. So, inconsistency is definitely the enemy of a great brand. I mean Starbucks, I don’t know what they would have paid their Brand Consultants. It would have been tens of millions of pounds. And all they did really was take the word, Coffee off the brand. So, just Starbucks. It’s quite interesting actually, if you loo at major brands like Coca-Cola, or McDonald’s, or whoever. You back 30 or 40 years of their logo changes. They’re very, very iterative. Only very small changes.

Who’s familiar with the car company, Porsche. Show me a hand, if you are? Well, if you look at 1960 Porsche, you can really see the design language. I mean it looks different, but it only looks modern different. The shape where the engine is put, once they went to mid-engine, it’s all very similar. You know, the lights are very similar. Because, if they design something that’s radical, the thought processes are, if we design something radical, we can disrupt the market. And you might attract a few new people. But what would you do, is, you put off all those loyal customers and buyers that you’ve built and painstakingly worked for over the last 50 years.

So, here’s the challenge, the paradox we have as entrepreneurs. Most entrepreneurs like variety. Yet with our brand, we have to stay consistent. I definitely found that hard over the years. We assume a change is better. but if you have a decent brand with good mind space, and good goodwill, and a bit of history, a change can break something. It can be worse.

So, the more clear you are on that now, the less that will have change. So, a bit of work upfront doing exercises on that. Those of you that are in this course, and not listening to the podcast, will be going through, and actually writing down these exercises.

The next thing then, what’s your mission and vision? How are you going to o change the world? A personal computer in every home, or words to that effect, were that of Microsoft. Who do you change the world? So, the vision is the unattainable outcome that your company exists to serve and reach. Mine is global financial freedom. That’s unattainable. I’m never going to achieve that. and I don’t mean all the globe’s money in my pocket, by the way. I mean for other people. I just want my share, my fair share. So, let’s say, I helped 100,000 people towards financial freedom. I mean it’s more. But I don’t know how many people are financial free I ever want to reach. Let’s say, it’s 100,000 people. Well, there’s 7 billion people on the planet. By the time, I’m 50, there might be 9 or 10 billion people on the planet. But, if I don’t have that dreamy unrealistic vision, then I play small.

The mission is how you get there. So, the vision is the grand end game. It’s way too big for it. It’s got to be way too big for you. And then the mission is the way you get there. So, if Progressive Property, one of my companies’ value was global financial freedom as the vision, and then the mission would be by investing for freedom, choice and profit.

Now, a good way to develop your own mission and vision I believe, is to pick the companies that you’re inspired by, that you love, that means something to you, that you have an affinity with, and then read their vision and mission. Then try, and hybridise, and merge that with what’s unique about you, and the goals, and the outcomes that you want to achieve.

By the way, the bigger your vision, the more outside of you it is, the faster that drags you up towards it. So, there’s a certain magnetism of creating a big vision. Because, if your vision was to get out of debt, then once you’re out of debt, the vision is achieved. then there’s no longer the pursuit of it. if your vision is to get your family into financial freedom, once that’s achieved then that stops. So, the grander the vision, the more magnetised that it is for you, and the more magnetised that it is for other people.

You know, no one is going to be inspired, if I want to get myself out of debt. Good on you, Rob. But I don’t care. Whereas, if I want to help the globe have more financial education and freedom, people are going to be attracted to that, because that serves them, and it serves vast numbers of people. So, it takes the altruism and the reciprocity.

Okay, what have we got next? Next then, is, who do you help solve people’s problems, pains, challenges, difficulties, struggles. What ultimately, inventing or product creation is solving a needed problem, a purposeful problem, a meaningful problem. Now, the Rausing Family started by Hans I believe, Tetra Pak is the company, they just solved very simple problems. Do you remember when you used to walk outside in the fresh morning to get your bottle of milk, and the freaking birds had pecked in it. Bastards, get your rifle out. Well, then Tetra Pak, and the packaging, and the plastics, I down there’s a big movement against plastics now. But back then, we didn’t know the issues with plastic.

Do you remember when you used to open a can of coke, and you had to pull the ring-pull off? And that was litter everywhere, and dangerous, because it was sharp. So, I don’t know who invented that ring-pull, where you pull it, and then push it back, and it stays on. But absolutely, they’ve made hundreds of millions, and maybe, even billions. A simple solution.

Now, who do you know the right problems to solve? One, what problems do you want to solve? Because I don’t want to solve packaging problems, which is not into it. But also, your community, your followers, your niche, your ideal clients, what feedback are they giving you the problems that they have, that they need solving? How do you make people’s lives easier, faster, better, more convenient?

Oh, by the way, don’t worry so much at the moment, if it seems a bit out there. I give you an example. 15 years ago, if someone would have said to you, hey, mate, why don’t you rent your room out to some random weird strangers? You would be like, get lost. And now, look at booking.com and Airbnb. It’s normal. Or, a random unlicensed person to pick you up in a black car. No, thanks. I’d like a licensed one, please. Uber, something to think about.

Okay. And then from that, is, your bio. What’s your story? People buy stories. People buy your past, your struggles. People buy your results, but they buy it in, maybe, a humble way, or an honest, or real. It has to have real way. The model of story that tends to work the best in the business’ world is then, now, how, action. So, 12 months ago, I was so skint. I used to go down to KFC, and lick people’s fingers for food. Fast forward to now, and I’m a billionaire. And it’s all thanks to insert product and service, and you can do it too. You just buy my shit. All right. So, that’s the stage speaker seller version.

But the then, is, your struggles, your pains, your past. The now is where you are now, your credibility, that your believability. Why should people trust and buy from you? The how, is, what they need to do to get it. That might be what your product and service delivers. Then the action, is, what they need to do. so, if you’re going to write your bio, that’s a good place to start.

I don’t think bio should be like, war and peace. I think bio should be maximum 2 folds on a screen. So, above the fold means one full screen, and everything else below the folds. So, I think then one full scroll that should be the longest your bio should be. Ideally, it fit on one page, if you’re writing a book, I think. I would write it, and then I would look at editing it, and editing it, and getting it rid of wasted words, and more fully phrase as in such. Now, your bio probably wants to balance who you are, and what you do for the world with how it benefits the reader. How do you serve your consumer? Because, if it’s all me, me, me, my, my, my. Look at me, I’ve done this. I’ve got that. I’ve got that award. I’ve got at that adulation, accolation, accolade, whatever else. But I’m a god so just believe me, and buy all my shit. It’s not really especially, in England, if you’re listening to this in America, you’ll probably get away with that. But in England, we’re so reserved. We don’t like anyone to brag. Oh, you can’t brag. So, they have a word for that now though in marketing. They called it, the humble brag. So, it’s packaging your credibility in a humble, real honest way, a modest way.

All right, so, let me remind you of all of those. Oh, and then you can do your logo, your colour scheme. Because will your log and colour scheme be easier when you know all that information? Absolutely, yes. Because, if you research colour schemes, you’ll know and maybe, green is trust. Red is danger, I don’t know. You’ll know what colours to do based on your brand values.

So, let me remind you of brand-led marketing.
Developing a sustainable enduring brand, which sells you rather than you have to sell it. And that’s what’s unique about you, what’s different about you.
What part, what space in the mind do you own?
What do you stand for? Sometimes, what do you stand against?
What do people consistently say about you that’s marketable, or memorable, or interesting, or quirky, or unique? You don’t have to write these down. I’ve already told you.
What words or values could you own, you or your company?
What’s your mission and vision? And use the ones that the companies that inspire you, and hybridise maybe, some of theirs with some of yours. I know someone called, Daniel Priestley very well. he’s a very good friend of mine. He’s in the sort of business space. He’s got a company called, Dent. He’s very inspired by Steve Jobs. Because Steve Jobs was famous for saying, I want to make a dent in the universe. So, that’s a clever hybridisation of what he wants to be with who he’s inspired by. There’s nothing wrong with paying on march to the people that had inspired you. You just don’t copy it.
How do you help solve people’s problems and pains, and make life faster, easier, better, more convenient? And then that all leads into your bio or your store.

So, thanks for tuning in to the podcast. And remember, if you don’t risk anything, you risk everything.